Frost
by Cee-face
Summary: A little warmth went an awful long way. -RyojixAigis- AU.


The sound of the door to the dorm opening made Ryoji turn his head; the sight of the anti-Shadow mechanism standing there, looking sort of…tense? The robot equivalent of tense, was a rather curious thing to behold.

"Good afternoon," he greeted affably, smiling in spite of the 'bot girl's known dislike of him. If she hadn't known he was there before, she sure knew now, because (with an odd, out-of-place metallic creaking noise) she quickly turned her head to glare at the boy.

"Why are you here?" Aigis inquired accusingly; at this point the weapon usually would have taken some sort of offensive stance, but it seemed a great burden to her to move, for whatever reason, so he was spared the tension that often meant she would probably attack him if not for her loyalty to her teammates holding her back.

In the face of her animosity, Ryoji just smiled. "I was here to visit Junpei-kun, but he seems to be out. I was waiting in the hopes that he would return soon." He gave the Persona-user a quick once-over -- she was moving to close the door behind her, but her actions were really…jerky. Actually, robotic. Which, considering she was really quite human-like, was sort of jarring to see. "Aigis-san, may I ask what's wrong? You seem…" Hmm, what was a good word to put here? "…uncomfortable." He knew his presence probably had something to do with that, but even physically she seemed that way.

The blonde almost seemed reluctant to answer. "…I do not function optimally in extreme cold. The frozen precipitation has interfered with my motor processes," she explained tersely.

He had almost forgotten it was snowing outside. The cold didn't really bother him, but he supposed not everyone had his tolerance, especially when they had internal processors that were sensitive to temperature. "Well, you're inside now, so you should warm up soon." Another smile at her from his seat on the couch.

She was silent at this statement, and frankly seemed more inclined to just stand there until either she warmed up enough to comfortably exit the room, or he decided to leave. Ryoji knew he should probably get going soon anyways -- he'd give Junpei a call later. Plus, he didn't want to make the lovely lady feel any worse than she already did with his presence.

So, he stood, smoothing out the front of his shirt and smiling politely at the robot. "I'll get going now. I apologize for intruding." He then made his way to the door…though, with Aigis less than a few feet or so from the doorway, that put him in rather close proximity to the other, and with his hand on the doorknob, Ryoji hesitated.

"…if I may, wearing layers would probably help keep you warm, Aigis-san," the junior offered kindly, turning to look at her. Seeing her avert her eyes, appearing almost shy, when she had previously been glaring at him triggered a strange reaction in him, and his hand fell away from the door. Quietly, he unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and cautiously held it out towards Aigis, who responded by returning her gaze to him, though this time with wariness and a light curiosity rather than hate.

The corners of his lips turned upwards and, with the utmost care, he set the scarf about her neck and began to wrap it snugly around -- he was careful to avoid touching her, for the most part, but he couldn't help the odd…accidental brush here and there. She initially responded with wide eyes and a motion of her hands that looked like she might seize him, but stopped herself short of grabbing him and he took this as a positive sign.

"…I'll get you a scarf of your own, as a gift for the holidays. You can use this one until then." It looked quite cute on her, actually. Ryoji's movements were slow, uncertain even though he painted them with deliberation. His hands came up to rest on her shoulders; he felt the abnormal shape of them, hidden by the cloth of her uniform, but it didn't deter him, and in fact, the fact that she hadn't yet shot him was pretty encouraging. His fingers trailed downwards, ghosting over her sides until they came to rest on her waist and he had rather closed the distance between the two of them, his forehead resting against hers.

Finally she reacted, and this reaction was to gingerly tangle her fingers in the front of his shirt; the feel of rounded fingertips through the garment rather than leveled-off piping alerted him that she didn't plan to fire a few rounds into his chest despite having the opportunity in front of her on a silver platter.

The silence was deafening and the only sound Ryoji was really aware of was his own breathing and the quiet, ever so quiet whirring of the mechanics inside of Aigis. "…I've also heard that…" started the brunet, his grip on her waist tightening and his traitorous lips sneaking closer and closer to hers. "…body heat is an effective way to warm up, as well."

Breath quickened, just the smallest twitch would bring with it a kiss, but when that smallest twitch came from Aigis, he pulled away before the touch became reality. Hands fell away from her body and his feet took him a few steps backwards, disentangling himself from her sparse hold. Her bright blue eyes, which had previously closed over the course of the exchange, now opened, and just the eye contact now seemed to be a peril to self-control.

"…I'll go now," said Ryoji, managing a crooked little smile at the robot, who was staring at him as if she couldn't believe he was real. "Thank you for your company, Aigis-san." And he opened the door and left, the sound snapping Aigis out of her reverie enough to bring a hand up as if to grab him. But she seemed to be in slow motion compared to the rest of the world, and the door was closed with Ryoji gone before she could really register what exactly she had intended on doing if she had caught him.

A hush fell over the lounge, and it could have been suffocating if Aigis needed to "breathe" as humans did. The anti-Shadow weapon stood absently with her hand half-raised towards the door for what seemed like an eternity before her arm fell limp against her side.

She wasn't cold anymore.


End file.
